Do Engineers Need an MBA?

In a recent Careers newsletter, I asked whether readers thought engineers should bolster their technical education with a more business-oriented degree, like an MBA. The responses (flooding my inbox all week) have been quite staggering and run the gamut from strong agreement to vehement rejection of the notion.

For those who don't receive our weekly Careers updates, I asked whether you felt supplementing your engineering degree with an MBA would boost your job prospects and propel you to the top of the career ladder or waste your precious time?

My question was prompted by a recent survey from the tech career recruitment Website Dice, which claimed that nearly a third of its 3,121 respondents (32 percent) reported seeing an MBA as important for future tech employees, while more than half (52 percent) saw it as unnecessary.

The firm said requests from employers for candidates with an MBA as a prerequisite or a preference were relatively rare, but that despite this, perceptions about the need for an MBA among non-MBA-holder tech professionals continued to lag.

Tech pros who had opted to get an MBA believed it would give them the potential to achieve higher pay and allow them to move more easily into management within the technology department, obtain employment at a preferred company, or land work in a new, business-oriented technical role.

Dice reported that technical MBA holders were still few and far between, making them a rare commodity, but whether or not the degree actually helps employees do their job better is very much up for debate.

"MBA's are a dime a dozen. You are better off identifying an allied technical field that is in high demand and then get your Masters Degree in that," wrote one reader, John Kiekhaefer, in an email response to me.

"A Technical MBA is a worthwhile pursuit only if your employer pays for it," wrote another reader, Brian Bissett, a holder of both an MBA and MSEE. Bissett said an MBA could open doors and be used as justification by senior management to upgrade an engineer's position, but that effectively, the only new things an engineer would learn in an MBA program were how to give effective presentations and enhance one's writing skills.

"For people involved in the execution of product development, I don't think an MBA is helpful," wrote Chuck Hill, chief architect at Radisys, but for people who want to be more involved in the creative side, it is actually very helpful. "The execution doesn't happen unless someone first turns loose some of the money."

Neil Farukhi, a materials and process engineer at Geospatial Systems, said he got his MBA not because it would have any direct impact on extra money or career status (although he agreed that would have been a bonus), but because he wanted to understand his business-oriented bosses better. "What the degree has given me is the understanding of how the business works." This helped him focus on what he needed to do, how things moved through the system, and who the key individuals were to get things done. "This results in becoming a key resource for everyone."

What do you think, readers? Is an MBA a worthwhile academic pursuit or a total waste of precious time? Tell us what you think in the comment section below.

An MBA may be advantageous if you want to go into management. I have a number of friends who have followed this route. They are not doing much "real" engineering work these days, but they are applying the thinking skills they learned in engineering school to solve organizational problems. On the other hand, if you want to pursue a technical path, you are better off getting a masters' in your area of specialization, as well as a PE license.

In some companies, management is the only track that offers the possibility of advancement; otherwise, your salary plateaus at a certain level. However, an increasing number of companies are starting to realize the value of providing advancement opportunities to technical experts without siphoning them off into management.

MBA: the best way to produce the kind of beancounters that propel today's industry to produce the kind of designs that feed the best "Made by Monkeys" stories.

A true engineer NEVER stops learning ENGINEERING... it is endless. One old european engineer once told me that he considered an accomplished engineer a person that had at least three areas of technical dominance (like Mechanical-Electrical and Materials or Chemical, for example). Engineering is a lot like languages: there are people that dominate several languages, other than their native one... they frequently say that the third language they learned was easier than the secong, the fourth was easier than the third, and so on. Same in the Science and technology fields.

But if well before the young engineer with less than an "accomplished" level decides to distract from the rigorous disciplines of science/technology, how will he/she reach the truly distinguished status? All engineering schools that I'm aware, teach some economics as part of the engineering formation, That's enough! Lets recover the brilliant and strong engineering heritage that produced individuals like Tesla, Watt, Otto, Von Braun or Burt Rutan, to very quickly name just a few. Amclaussen, 34+ years doing engineering and still learning a lot each day.

After spending 25 years in Corporate America, I can assure you that the old adage, "Your Attitude determines your Altitude" is profoundly real. Corporations often "offer" MBA tuition assistance, but have privately pre-selected candidates for their corporate ladder --- long before any secondary degrees were earned. They pick, and they have favorites, based on "fit" over function!

To the remaining staff, seeing the illusion that MBA = Promotion, they often are less enthusiastic about earning one, but feel pressured to do so; and ultimately end up feeling contempt for the entire effort when they are not selected for promotion.

Meanwhile, putting that entire Corporate "Peyton-Place" aside; after the economy put thousands of us capable Corporate Servants on the street over the past few years, I can confidently say that I wish I had the MBA now that I'm running my own small business (by default). It would have at least been a good consolation prize for the corporate effort.

Well Said. Countless Big-Tech companies follow this structure. It is ill-conceived (yet widely followed) and ultimately produces huge numbers of managers promoted to their level of incompetence. So why is it so prevalent-? Because the dollars grow from the Top-Down, and the incapable managers handle the money.

To Dave's point, recognizing talent on the technical side and creating opportunity where technical talent can remain un-hindered is like a new concept to many. But so obvious to others.

Waste of time. A masters or PHD in the engineering degree field one chooses is key. Very rarely do I see an MBA contribute to leading research in any particular field. Today's job market is about "what you can do." Being more versed in one's "Craft" is more important than anything else.

I remember back in college a friend said I should get my MBA after the Bachelors. It's the easiest way to get a masters degree and every manager needs one, he said. I cared more about what I could create, not how well I can become the boss.

However, is an MBA teaches good engineering project management, then it would be almost OK to follow.

But, if the goal is contributing to the engineering body of knowledge, then an MBA might not be the best use of time.

In my almost 20 yrs working in Corp America I haven't seen where an MBA would have helped or was needed by most of my peers or even the higher ups. I have met a couple of engineers with MBAs and it didn't seem to help their career at all.

I agree with James - and with the high cost of education and the time that it consumes, it is more important than ever for someone returning to school to have a definitive usefulness to their degree. I have seen some technical schools offer technical management degrees as well but have not seen it serve a real purpose - savvy engineers exhibiting good adminstrative sense and natural business acumen were given the mid-level management jobs these degrees were suppose to prepare one for. Odd too regarding MBAs - most engineers I know would run screamimg the other direction at the thought of taking graduate level courses in business, myself included. No offense to those who enjoy that stuff - not to many MBAs probably have much interest in engineering.

While I agree, Tim - that a masters is very beneficial for one's career, I believe it really is best if the masters is directly related to the field you are in. This becomes especially important if you desire to teach in electronics. Most reputable academic accredidation bodies for schools require that the teacher has at least 18 hours specifically in the area they are teaching. Many companies that require a masters want it in the area of focus for the position being filled. So while any masters is good and represents an achievement, the amount of time, effort and money are important considerations as to how beneficial a masters will be if it is not directly in your career field...

An MBA is not for everyone. When we did an article on this subject last year, the president of Olin College said, "As a general rule, every graduate who leaves an engineering school shouldn't have a to-do list with a little box on it that says 'MBA.' Those who are headed for corporate leadership will probably be tapped on the shoulder by a supervisor at work."

Focus on Fundamentals consists of 45-minute on-line classes that cover a host of technologies. You learn without leaving the comfort of your desk. All classes are taught by subject-matter experts and all are archived. So if you can't attend live, attend at your convenience.